[Review of] Asian United Women of California, ed. Making Waves: An Anthology of Writings by and about Asian American Women

Making Waves is an impressive collection of writings that includes poetry, fiction, and autobiography and historical, sociological, and political essays about American women who came from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand. This is quite a feat. While non-Asians tend to stereotype Asians and lump them together, their cultures, traditions, and histories are diverse. Making Waves includes stories of Vietnamese boat refugees, Japanese picture brides, World War II camp detainees, Chinese prostitutes and grandmothers with bound feet, Filipinas looking to escape poverty by marrying American men through the Cherry Blossom network, and the list goes on. The personal accounts are compelling. The background essays-on the Asian American women\u27s movement, on Indian marriage advertisements in the United States, on the Asia American women\u27s labor movement, on Asian-Pacific wife battering, on women in politics and the media, on interracial marriages and families, on Asian American lesbians-give us insight into aspects of these cultures that are not well known. Connie Chung and Patsy Mink are national figures, but most of the women profiled in Making Waves have not been recognized